A Student Created an Evocative Sexual Assault Photo Series in Answer to Brock Turner's Release

Yana Mazurkevich wants to remind the world that sexual assault can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time.

The Itacha College junior art student released a series of nine jarring, evocative and important photos which hope to convey a strong message about assault and consent. The images, disturbing to anyone—not solely female survivors—shows graphic imagery that focuses on the victims' faces, their eyes powerfully locked with the camera, while their rapists faces are hidden.

Each picture is paired with an "it happens" phrase, and Mazurkevich says they are all based on true stories of sexual assault her friends and classmates have shared. The ninth and final image from her series though shows a woman lying next to a dumpster, inspired by the Stanford victim of Brock Turner—it is paired with the victim's moving words, "You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside me, and that’s why we’re here today.”

Mazurkevich told BuzzFeed that she purposefully wanted the victims to look "lifeless" but also like "real people."

"This happens to real people, people close to you, people who you know,” she said. "Look at this and don’t even try to ignore it because it’s right there in front of you to stare at."

The series was also released online last Friday, the same day Turner was released from jail, after serving three months of his six-month sentence for felony sexual assault.

Though the photo series was originally a school project, Mazurkevich allowed Current Solutions, an organization working to end sexual assault and domestic violence, to republish the images.

"How can statements like 'It was only 20 minutes of action' lead to so much inaction?," the organization writes. "We believe justice can’t be served until the sentence matches the severity of the crime."

In the week since being released on Facebook, the images have gone viral, garnering 9,000 Likes, 63,000 shares and almost 1,000 comments.

"Conversation needs to happen, and I am extremely happy that so far people have been stepping out of their comfort zones to speak up and start one,” Mazurkevich told BuzzFeed. "But the fact that it has gotten so much attention just tells how much this topic is not prioritized."

See Mazurkevich's powerful images and read some of sexual assault stories, below.

“I blacked out and just remember very short flashing images…I remember him asking me if I was on birth control, but I was too incoherent to talk. I was trying to explain that I wasn’t. We had sex anyway. I didn’t want to and I barely remember it.”

“He made me feel guilty if I didn’t do what he wanted. I remember on prom night, I was exhausted and just wanted to go home, but he insisted we mess around because that was the whole point of prom night, and that’s what we were supposed to do. I still wonder if he knew just how manipulative he was.”

“I lost my virginity at a party when I was in middle school. He gave me a drink and I can’t really remember what happened after that. Just bits and pieces for the most part…but I couldn’t say no or push him off while he made me have sex with him. I woke up next to him and I was really sore but i couldn’t tell anyone what happened.”